How to beat Spider, Zombie Joe, and Headless Luiz?

[unwaveringresolve]

I'm not sure how I'm meant to defeat any of these characters. I am aware that some or all of them may be redesigned in the coming months, but even so I'd like advice on how to beat them as they are now.

Spider reliably beats me by knockout. He's so much taller than me, and his reach so much longer, that it's fairly difficult just to block him. Stunning him with hits to the head is hard to achieve given his height, and making any attack tends to leave me exposed. So now, the way most fights go is that I start by trying to fight defensively, get punched several times, back off, charge, get a few hits in, get hammered again, and then repeat until I drop.

Zombie Joe relentlessly comes at me unless I hit him a lot, and fast. But so far the only way I've found to reliably make him keep back is to swing my arms up and down through his body - tricking the game into thinking I'm making multiple hits. Slower power punches or my normal jabs do not consistently stop him, allowing him to close in and bite me. And since my play area is a low smaller than a normal boxing ring, I can't back away too far or try to sidestep around him.

Headless Luiz is only vulnerable on his body. The problem is, attacking the body exposes my head, and since he cannot be stunned I keep getting knocked around by his counter-punches.

What kind of strategy should I use against any of these opponents?

[Ian (Sealost)]

Regarding the Zombie and Headless Luis specifically, they're supposed to be very challenging, so that's good to hear.

Headless Luis is meant to be very hard for exactly the reason you state. Going for his body tends to leave your head exposed, and he takes advantage of that. Try to bait and slip his swings, and then counter with solid hits to his solar plexus.

The Zombie is meant to be an endurance match, but there's a little trick to it. Most of the time, he just flat out doesn't care that you're punching him - You're still getting damage with each hit, but normally hits won't back him off. You can only shake him off with a punch once he goes in for a bite. What you can do is try to get into a good rhythm where you tag him right as he leans in to bite you to back him off, and then get what hits you can while he's not able to bite.

As for the Spider - personally he's my personal toughest opponent. I think it's best to give him lots of room, then step in with your guard nice and tight, score a few hits. You'll want to back off once you've pushed him all the way back to the corner because he fights like a caged animal when he can't back up. On the other hand, playing too passively let's him pick you apart with his long limbs.